Over 6000 ancient tombs discovered by archaeologists in China

CHENGDU, May 14 (Xinhua) — More than 6,000 ancient tombs dating back between the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.) and the Ming Dynasty (1368―1644）have been discovered in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, local archaeological authorities said Thursday.

In China, archaeologists have found thousands of burials on a cliff. The burial ground was in use for over 2000 years. Many important historical artifacts have been uncovered in the tombs.

These graves could allow experts to trace the evolution of Chinese burial customs and indeed offer priceless insights into the culture’s religious beliefs over many centuries.

These tombs were found in the provincial capital of Sichuan, Chengdu, which is in the south-west of the People’s Republic.

The discoveries were made inside the Chuanxin Innovative Science and Technology Park during construction work in 2015.

Archaeologists from Chengdu Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, led by Zuo Zhiqiang, carried out a dig at the site and identified a large number of burials. Ecns.cn reports that the tombs cover an ‘area of 10.34 square meters’ (111 sq. ft.) The burials are cut into the face and on the top of a cliff.

The tombs have been cut into the red earth of the cliff. Heritage Daily reports that they are mostly ‘rock pit tombs or constructed from brick’. Some of the tombs have to be supported with wood so they do not collapse. So far, archaeologists have uncovered 6000 burial spaces of different sizes.

This burial site dates from the Warring States period (475 BC), the period before the unification of China to the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912 AD), the last Chinese dynasty.

The discovery can provide an insight into the history and burial customs of Sichuan. This region played a very important part in Chinese history and it was often the base for rebellious generals and independent empires, such as the Shu dynasty.

The archaeologists discovered many artifacts that can provide them with clues to ancient Chinese burial customs. For example, they uncovered terracotta pottery and figurines. Ceramic figures of humans and also animals, such as ducks, were unearthed.

According to Heritage Daily, the excavators also uncovered ‘pieces of pottery, porcelain, copper, iron, glass, coins and stone artifacts’. Among the rarer finds are a bronze knife, statues of the Buddha, and some painted miniature ceramic houses and buildings.

Xinhua. Net reports that in ancient China ‘people had the tradition of giving the deceased luxurious burials’. It seemed that the deceased family placed the grave goods in the tombs so that they could use them in the afterlife.

In Chinese burial customs, lavish offerings have been a sign of social status. This practice has taken place since the imperial period and continues today.

What is unique about the burial site is that all of the graves were left intact and were undisturbed for centuries. Xinhua reports that burials ‘of that period were typically robbed by modern-day tomb raiders.’ What is more, the grave goods were still in their original positions and this can help the researchers to better understand the evolution of Chinese funerary customs.

One particularly important find was from the late or Eastern Han (25-220 AD) period or after, which has been called the M94 Cliff Tomb. Here researchers have found 86 burial goods and hundreds of coins from the period.

The tomb clearly belonged to a person of high social rank. Zuo Zhiqiang told Heritage Daily, “The tomb will help us to construct the archaeological cultural sequence and the funeral behaviors, rituals, and concepts of the Shudiya tombs in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period .”

Work is ongoing at the tomb cliffs and it is hoped that more treasures will be found at the site to reveal even more secrets of ancient Chinese burial customs. More findings from the research will be announced in the near future. The site at Chengdu can help us comprehend the worldview and funerary beliefs of people over an incredibly long period of time.

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

In the province of Qinghai near Mount Baigong in China, there is a strange pyramid with three caves leading to the saltwater lake

Below the lake bed and on the coast there are iron pipes of about 150,000 years old that are some as thin as a toothpick.

What is baffling Chinese historians is that the area wasn’t thought to have been occupied by people until around 30,000 years ago.

And according to historians, the humans that were around were nomads, thus making it unlikely that they would have taken the time to install plumbing.

That leaves a 120,000-year gap of “who was here laying down the iron pipe?”

Aliens?

Yes, it’s a far-fetched possibility, but the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences isn’t ruling it out. Research fellow, Yang Ji told Xinhua News Agency the pyramid may have been built by intelligent beings.

He didn’t dismiss the theory that ancient extraterrestrials may be responsible as complete hogwash, but said: “it’s worth looking into and science would have to determine if there’s any truth.” Okay, so now that we’ve got the obligatory space alien theory out of the way, what about more likely theories?

The investigation into the pipes began in 2002 with some researchers believing the pipes were left over by a prehistoric civilization whose techniques were later lost to the humans that moved into the area.

Around the pipes leading to the area are “strangely shaped stones” protruding from the ground that are confusing historians even more.

So weird rocks are protruding from the ground and the pipes can’t be traced to a known civilization. If that wasn’t strange enough, the scientist isn’t entirely sure what they’re made of.

While the pipes are believed to be mostly iron, the head of publicity for the local Delingha government told reporters that the pipes were analyzed at a local smeltery and 8 percent of the material could not be identified.

The remaining material was a combination of ferric oxide, silicon dioxide, and calcium oxide which are byproducts of long interaction between iron and the surrounding sandstone.

One final theory is that they aren’t even pipes at all but fossilized tree roots. Fossilized tree roots of similar structures have been found in Louisiana and scientists found plant matter in some of the pipes and it looks very similar to tree rings.

It’s a long-standing geological theory that in certain temperatures and under certain chemical conditions, tree roots can undergo the transformation of soil into rock and in time, produce iron formations.

So, are they pipes laid down by an ancient tribe or space aliens? Or are they the result of iron-rich magma forcing its way up through the earth into fissures, or just fossilized tree roots? Whatever the case, the “oopart” (out of place artifact) is certainly a source of puzzlement and wonder for conventional scientists and historians alike.

A Mysterious X-Shaped Ancient Tomb has been Excavated in China

Xbox???? no way…….. I see X-men…..or were the terra-cotta warriors’ avid gamers???

Maybe they are going to unearth the Wolverine …..let him save the world from us.

In any case ……. the tomb is considered to be 221-206 B.C. from the Qin dynasty. … the Qin dynasty was the first Imperial China dynasty to be established by the first Emperor

Xbox fans (you know who you are) are positively giddy of what appears to be a new discovery in China of a 2nd century BCE tomb that looks very much like the iconic logo of the popular gaming console. Needless to say, Microsoft likes it too.

Except for the rumors, the Chinese beat them to the technology and are now demanding a share of the profits. Will the descendants of the person in the tomb supplant Bill Gates on the world’s richest person lists? Should the company be getting ready for an invasion of terracotta soldiers?

Not much information seems to be available about the tomb. The photo appeared first on the Xbao twitter feed and was picked up by OnMSFT.com (see the picture here), which calls itself one of the original Microsoft-centered communities but is not affiliated with Microsoft.

The site traced the picture to a video posted on the Weibo YouTube channel and is of a newly-discovered tomb from the Qin dynasty.

That might place it near the city of Xian, in Shaanxi province of China where the army of life-size, terracotta soldiers was found at the burial site of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty who ruled China from 221 BCE to 207 BCE.

There don’t appear to be any other tombs with the unique “X” on top of a circular dome.

More is known about the Xbox, of course. It was pitched to Bill Gates in 1998, announced to the public in 2000, and hit the market at the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a name and a logo that internal marketing people didn’t think would work.

How wrong they were. The original logo featured the text “XBOX” next to a large 3D “X.”

In 2005, 3D “X” was placed over a grey 3D ball – the image the tomb resembles.

Or is it the other way around?

“Most ancient Copyright claim in history incoming?” “Had a great selection of games, but only played in 0.00000000000004k”

The Twitter comments allude to the question – did Microsoft steal the logo from the Chinese? Did Emperor Qin Shi Huang die while playing an abacus version of the Xbox? Who knows? Until archeologists determine the real reason for the symbol, speculating is almost as much fun as playing on the Xbox.

Kneeling Decapitated Skeleton was Ancient Chinese Sacrifice Victim

HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA—According to  AncientOrigins report, archaeologists from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Jiyuan Municipal Cultural Relics.

The team has uncovered a headless human skeleton in a pit at central China’s Chaizhuang site, which dates to the late Shang Dynasty (1600–1050 B.C.)

The remains were found facing north in a kneeling position with hands crossed in front, suggesting that the person had been beheaded as a human sacrifice.

Archeologists found a large number of tombs from the Late Shang Dynasty, providing evidence for the study of ancient social and ceremonial rituals, in the excavation of the Chaizhuang site in Jiyuan.

The bone remains found at the site suggest that the human sacrifice was beheaded, facing north and kneeling in the pit with his hands crossed in front of him.

“This well-preserved human bone is shaped like the oracle bone inscription of the character ‘Kan,'” said Liang Fawei, head of the Chaizhuang site excavation project.

Liang said according to the study on records of oracle bone inscriptions unearthed in Yin Ruins, sacrificial culture prevailed in the Shang Dynasty and hieroglyphs such as “She,” “Shi,” “Tan” and “Kan” were used to describe sacrificial activities of different rituals.

Among them, the word “Kan” depicts the way of offering sacrifices of people or livestock in pits.

Oracle bone inscriptions, or Jiaguwen, are an ancient Chinese language named for their inscriptions on tortoise shells and animal bones.

They are a primitive form of Chinese characters and the oldest fully-developed characters in China.

Previously, the remains of human sacrifice discovered were mostly in a lying posture.

Experts assumed that the sacrificial method recorded in the hieroglyph “Kan” suggests burial in an upright position, which must have been a more prevailing burial than that in a lying position.

Archaeologists from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Jiyuan Municipal Cultural Relics Team have excavated 6,000 square meters of the site since 2019.

Their survey found the ancient Chaizhuang settlement covers 300,000 square meters.

Semi-crypt-type houses, wells, ash pits, roads, and fireworks have been found at the site, along with a trove of relics including pottery, stone, bone, mussel, and jade artifacts.

Old cannon found at the Macau construction site

MACAU, CHINA— Reports that a cannon was uncovered during construction work in the Inner Harbor area of the city of Macau, which is located on coastal islands in the South China Sea.

Ming Dynasty officials leased the area to Portuguese traders in the mid-sixteenth century A.D.

The region then became a Portuguese colony in 1887 until 1999 when it was transferred to China.

Officials from the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Municipal Affairs Bureau, and the Customs Service are investigating the site and examining the cannon. 

The statement says that the cannon was dug up last afternoon during construction work for a sewer project in the Inner Harbor district, close to the car park.

The project has been temporarily suspended following the find.
According to information provided by workers at the scene, the cannon was accidentally dug out by an excavator at about 4:15 p.m.

Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) officials, as well as Customs Service and PSP officers, arrived at the scene to investigate.

The statement said the old cannon was possibly a “cultural relic.” 

This photo provided by a reader to local media outlets yesterday shows a construction worker with the old cannon dug out by an excavator on a construction site in the Inner Harbour area yesterday. 

The naturally Mummified remains of a Government official from the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) was Unearthed during Construction in central China Henan Province

A carefully conserved Chinese mummy, found in a tomb that is 300 years old, was almost instantly destroyed once archaeologists opened the coffin – it turned black within hours of the coffin being opened.

The remains were uncovered on a construction site in a two-meter deep hole in the ground at Xiangcheng in Henan province, central China.

The individual was wearing extremely ornate clothing which indicates that he was a very high-ranking official from the early Qing Dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 1912.

The Qing Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China before the creation of the Republic of China and the present-day boundaries of China are largely based on the territory controlled by the Qing dynasty.

Scientists are perplexed as to how the individual’s remains had stayed so well preserved in the first place, as it was found alongside other tombs in which the remains were mere skeletons.

According to Dr. Lukas Nickel, a specialist in Chinese art and archaeology at SOAS, University of London, the preservation was not intentional but happened as a result of the natural conditions around the coffin, combined with the fact that the coffin was lacquered and covered in charcoal which would have prevented bacteria getting in.

“The Chinese did not do any treatment of the body to preserve it as known from ancient Egypt, for instance,” said Dr. Nickel. “They did, however, try to protect the body by putting it into massive coffins and stable tomb chambers.”

However, Professor Dong disagrees with this theory and believes that the man’s family used some materials to preserve the body.

In early China, the physical structure of the body was important to them and there was a belief that the dead person ‘lived on’ inside their tomb.

Once the tomb was opened, the natural process of decay started. Although the man’s face was almost normal when it was found, within hours the face, as well as the skin on the whole body, turned black and a foul smell emanating from the coffin.

“What is amazing is the way time seems to be catching up on the corpse, aging hundreds of years in a day,” said Historian Dong Hsiung.

Researchers are working quickly to preserve what is left of the quickly decaying mummy. It is hoped that by studying the individual, archaeologists will gain a better understanding of how the body had remained so well preserved for three centuries.

600-Year-Old Buddha Statue Discovered In China As Reservoir Water Level Drops

Lower water levels in a village in eastern China led to a shocking discovery the other day. What was discovered was an approximately 600-year-old Buddha statue almost perfectly preserved.

The statue was discovered at Hongmen Reservoir in the Nancheng county of Jiangsu Province. It is in this location that a nearby hydropower gate is under renovation, which led to the drop in water levels by nearly 33 feet or 10 meters.

Sitting against a cliff, the statue appears to be watching over the remaining body of water. Many locals believe it to be an auspicious sign. It might be so much more than just a statue though, archaeologists believe it could just be the tip of a buried treasure trove.

According to local history records, the reservoir may be located on the ruins of Xiaoshi – an ancient settlement. It’s likely that this large Buddha, which stands a whopping 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) tall, was the centerpiece of the village.

The statue itself is still surprisingly detailed given how old it is. It is estimated to be around 600-years-old dating back to early the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) but could go back as far as the Yuan Dynasty, making it even older.

So how is this possible? Well, Xu Changqing, director of the Research Institute of Archaeology of Jiangxi province, has stated that being submerged underwater has acted as a preserving agent. If it was exposed, it probably would have suffered weathering or oxidation damage but it’s almost perfectly preserved with the same detail that it would have had the day it was done.

The natural preservation isn’t just the remarkable thing about this statue, the fact that is also survived the country’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960s when people were told to get rid of everything old, feudalistic and superstitious is also quite amazing.

According to Guan Zhiyong, a local official, this miraculously preserved Buddha statue was built by ancient people as a spiritual protector to calm the rapid-flowing current where two rivers converge.

When the Hongmen reservoir was built back in 1960, the statue was submerged. Local authorities were not aware of heritage protection at that time so the statue was completely ignored.

Today, however, the statue will be fully protected and once excavated, is likely to be placed in a museum for all to see in its full glory.

It’s already stirred up old feelings with Huang Keeping, an 82-year-old local blacksmith who said he first saw the Buddha back in 1952. There’s no doubt it will be bringing back lots of nostalgia for many others too.

As investigations continue into both the Buddha statue, as well as the ancient settlement, there’s not much more than can be done.

Authorities are currently working on removal as well as preservation plan for the statue. For now, though, the best place for it is under the water! It’s lasted for over half a millennium so it can definitely last another few years until it’s possible to safely remove it. Until such a time, it’s possible to admire it from afar with all the photographs and videos that have been posted online.

China is home to several spectacular Buddha statues, not least this hidden one. Alongside this centuries-old wonder, China offers incredible Buddhist cliff and cave carvings such as the famous Leshan Giant Buddha, which is the world’s tallest Buddha statue.

900 year old ‘Grand Lady’ Skeleton Emerges from Watery Coffin

In China at Tieguai Village Archeologists have discovered the remarkably well-preserved 900-year-old remains of a woman who was called “Grand Lady” and have found that a number of various and precious important objects have been found next to her skeleton.

Perhaps the most profound of these grave goods was what looks like a model dollhouse that was filled with miniature furniture, Fox News reported.

A silver pendant was also retrieved from the Chinese tomb, displaying two dragons chasing after pearls. The name “Grand Lady” was found written on a banner on the upper side of the inner coffin, and the banner records that the woman, believed to be née Jian, once resided in Ankang Commandery.

Archaeologists who were involved with the research on this woman explained in their paper that she was still very much intact and that “the skeleton [of the Grand Lady] is essentially preserved, complete with fingernails and hair.”

Gold and silver hairpins were still on the Grand Lady’s head after 900 years and “there were silver bracelets on her arm and a string of bronze coins on her abdomen, 83 coins altogether.”

Archaeologists noted that “underneath her right hand were two zongzi [which are the remains of two sticky rice dumplings], and embroidered shoes were on her feet.”

Archaeologists also found that there were several paintings on the inner coffin that are believed to be of the Grand Lady, with each of these showing the woman wearing different attire and accessories.

The time during which she lived has been determined by the discovery of 200 bronze coins that were found buried with her, which were in circulation between 713 and 1100 CE.

Because of this, it is believed that the woman most likely died at some point after 1100 CE. This means that she would have been alive during the Song dynasty, which was a particularly good time in China for the arts, and when science and culture were at their peak.

Also found in the Grand Lady’s coffin were curious artifacts known as minqi, which are real-life objects that are created in miniature, much like the dollhouse that was discovered.

Besides the dollhouse, archaeologists also recovered 10 female figurines that were donning masks and performing different functions, including playing music on their instruments.

While another coffin was found close to the Grand Lady’s, which may have been a relative, this was found to have been severely looted, and very few artifacts were still left inside.